I am so thankful for our Church!! Steven and I have been without a Church for about 3 years now. (A year before we were married and now 2 years together) We looked and looked for a church that we could be plugged into that would put the right emphasis on the right things. We had almost given up. We have been attending this new church for a couple of months now and every week I love it more and more. It is refreshing, so exciting, and challenging. Every week I feel like I have my butt kicked and yet I feel more encouraged to keeping running in this race to the finish line.
This morning we started a series on generous living. We are going through stewardship and living a life of generosity. Everytime I hear the word stewardship, I like most everybody else think about money. I am learning that stewardship is so much more than money. We are not owners of our possesions, we are merely managers. I own nothing. What do I have that was not given to me? Do I truly value what has been given to me? Just a thought- Is my value of our house reflected by the cleanliness of it? Would people in my life say that I am truly thankful for what God has given me and it is reflected by how I manage those things?
I want so badly to live a life of generosity! However to many times I find myself wanting to hoard what God has given us and to covet what God has blessed somebody else with. I find myself always wanting the next thing. I am really looking forward to the next 6 weeks of this series. I hope that God changes my views and allows me to fall deeper in love with a lifestyle of generosity and stewardship. I want my life to be a reflection of the generosity of Christ laying down everything in obediance. God has been so generous to each of us. We are truly rich! What will we do with these riches?
BOY DID THAT MAKE ME THINK. I HAVE ALWAYS KNOWN THESE THINGS LOGICALLY AND THEN I SEEM TO FORGET THEM IN MY HEART...I AM GOING TO WORK ON THIS. THIS NEXT MONTH WILL BE A CHALLENGE FOR ME AND JESSE...OK, JUST FOR ME...BUT I KNOW WITH A LOT OF PRAYER AND DILIGENCE, I CAN DO IT. I CAN MAKE A TIGHT BUDGET WORK AND IF IT WORKS, WHY NOT STICK TO IT SO I CAN HELP OUR FAMILY TO BETTER OURSELVES AND THE OTHERS AROUND US...GOOD STUFF MARIS, THANKS!
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2 comments:
Really enjoyed Maris' blog! Great stuff!! My church's vision is downward mobility... so basically my pastor drives a used minivan and even when someone offered to buy him a new vehicle he turned it down... several members have sold their bmws to do the same. Then w/ our building fun we just began 1 yr ago we have 250 regular members and we raised 2.5 million$ over the next 3 yrs. It seriously has begun to teach each of us (I think) that it is not my $$ it is Gods nothing I own is mine. If I only listen to him about all thing then I would not miss out on so many blessings he has for me. Just think - if we did not spend so much money on ourselves we would have soooo much more $$ to give away to others who really need it. convicting me right now of my spending... darn it!!
Also - wanted to say (THANK YOU for praying) God is humbling me there too... I need to pray more for my humble spirit... lift her up better than myself. It is not about how she acts but how I respond...in love (biting my tongue...)
Also - awesome about the Bible study - can't wait to hear more!! DUDE sooo cool!!! How did that start??? I LOVE IT!! I am thinking that(from a single's brain...so not worth much...but..) that the more you have these Bible studies and Jesse leads - the more I think the kids (oldest:-) ) will have a more yearning to earn respect instead of getting attention through the tantrums. My thinking (just a thought) is that much of our own disobedience as a children was in reaction to what we saw in our parents (Yes definitely our own wayward personalities gone awry) but so much we see in our parents and react in our own lives... this should be pretty cool!! How is oldest one doing reading the Bible.. She always seems to crave it when I see her - I can't wait to see what God does in her life!! :-) much love to you - I miss you so much and wish you lived up the street so I could come over for tea and we could gab all night about life, God and "boys" lol ok not the boys... none in my life but hey... tea sounds great!! guess what dad just emailed me??? You will never guess.... a Christian dating website that happened to "pop" up on his desktype... w/ the subject "God works in mysterious way..." WHAT ???? Is that ??? LOL dying laughing over here...
What a great post!
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